Yoseph Ayele founded LAVA to stake a claim where frontier markets meet frontier technology, namely, Web3 and AI in Africa.
His vision began with the belief that the continent’s digital-first generation and leap-frog innovation present a unique investment thesis. In 2025, LAVA made waves by announcing an early-stage fund deploying US$100k-500k checks into startups building modular financial and trust infrastructure, many of them in Africa.
Their portfolio already includes nine companies that collectively processed over US$1.6 billion in transaction volume, showing rare traction for such a young fund.
Ayele’s approach combines global LP backing (including Coinbase and Paradigm-adjacent investors) with local operational support, enabling founders to scale across the continent and beyond.
By backing infrastructure that underpins Web3 payments, stablecoins, and trust layers, LAVA is positioning itself as the engine room of Africa’s next-gen economy.
For its audacious thesis, rapid early moves, and deep-tech orientation, LAVA, led by Yoseph Ayele, is a strong contender for Investor of the Year.
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